The present invention relates generally to handheld exercising devices and is more particularly concerned with dumbells or barbells comprising water-fillable bellows-form weights which may be expanded to selected, reversibly lockable positions corresponding to predetermined levels of resistance to lifting of the barbell or dumbell when the weights are filled with water.
The desirability of portable exercise equipment such as xe2x80x9ctravel dumbellsxe2x80x9d has long been recognized and several examples are found in the prior art of exercise apparatus which may be adjusted by filling weight reservoirs with fluid to provide variable resistance to lifting, for example, Jenison, U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,051; Sherman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,184; Brown, U.S. Pat. No. 5,445,587 and Brown, U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,946.
In any weight training program, it is desired to have a variety of dumbells or barbells in which the end weight portions can be selectively increased by integral increments of, say, 5 lbs. The hand-held exercise devices hitherto provided in the prior art not entirely satisfactory for this purpose, either from the point of view of non-collapsability (i.e. of a fluid refillable exercise apparatus including a fluid filling scale) or of collapsability, but without any readily measurable and reproducible weight increment on adding fluid to the device.
It is a principal object of the invention to provide easily portable and packable dumbell/barbell equipment which can be assembled and reproducibly charged with water to a desired weight. After use, the collapsed and empty end weights can be taken off the bar, packed and carried around in a suitcase or the like.
Accordingly, a traveler having arrived at his hotel room, say, and desirous of carrying out weight lifting exercises in his own room can unobtrusively assemble the dumbell or barbell, fill the weight containers to desired calibrated levels and later empty them and pack the lot away.
With a view to providing an improved variable resistance dumbell or barbell that achieves this principal object and avoids the shortcomings of similar prior art devices, I have invented a dumbell/barbell arrangement in which each weight is a container for fluid, comprising rigid plate members and a collapsible/expandible receptacle extending between opposing faces of the plate members. Means such as a screw-capped filling port is used for introducing or removing water into the expandible weight unit.
In a preferred embodiment of my invention, each weight unit is a container having a central channel to receive a portion of the crossbar and is expandable in bellows-like fashion along calibrated stopping points on the crossbar of the exercise device, giving a clear visual numerical rendering of the filled weight of each weight container.
Weight lifting equipment according to the present invention is particularly useful for exercising at the beach, where water is readily available and the light weight and portability of the equipment is advantageous. Similarly, the ease of adjustability of the variable weights make them ideal for carrying out a graded workout beside a swimming pool.
The invention may be embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which are by way of example only.